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Territories

“Strike out”

If you’re anything like me (probably nothing like me) you have at one time or another had a magic place that you always like to travel. Maybe it was when you were a kid or maybe you went there when you were scared or unsure about life.

Writers (I speak for myself) can sometimes envision that place and make it into a real space. I have read such authors, sometimes in fantasy and sometimes in darker areas. The thing I remember most about these far away places is that they are so unique and special that it seems like anybody could get there if they wanted to.

I’ll give you an example from one of my best loved books, “The Talisman,” by Stephen King. In this book, a young boy goes on an adventure to find a special object (just mentioned) that will potentially save his mother’s life. But to do this task, he must journey to a far away land called “The Territories,” which exists as a kind of parallel world to our own. Whatever occurs in one place, the other place must follow, and so on.

I loved the Territories because it reminded me of a place where the world had not yet intruded. There, everything was still fresh, vibrant. “You could pull a carrot out of the ground and hear it almost a mile away,” a character said. Everything was bigger, somehow tasted better. Of course, there were still problems and nothing was perfect (even perfect isn’t perfect. Does that make sense? LOL)

Here is the point: that author created that world from inside his own mind. Therefore, nobody needs to read or write anything to get there. I do, simply because it helps me solildfy the world better. But anybody and everybody can have that magic simply by closing their eyes for a few seconds and reaching for that intangible point. Stay awhile, like a person sitting on a park bench to rest their aching feet. When you get up, continue, knowing that another such bench exists not a few blocks up the street. Feel that sense of adventure and strike out for the territories.

END

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One thought on “Territories”

Nice, Gary! And I can say from firsthand experience, you are definitely someone who knows how to transport others to another place in your writing. The only thing I would say is to ease up on the stuff in the parentheses in the first two paragraphs. Let your readers make the call that they’re similar or different from you. You’re inviting us in :). Good topic and points.